The Ten Great Realms

"The Great Gan Dynasty reveres the Dao. Yujing Temple, just outside the city, is a renowned sect of the Fangxian Dao. Daoist practices for refining and stilling the mind, as well as the Yin Spirit's emergence from the body, are widely known. Their profound and mysterious teachings far surpass our scraps and fragments. Young sir, you're a scholar—why settle for second best? Why not seek out a Daoist at a temple to ask about cultivation, instead of coming to us foxes?" Elder Tu asked, puzzled.

"Only after settling the mind can one become tranquil; only after becoming tranquil can one find peace. That is a principle scholars understand. Since this is an immortal art for cultivating the spirit, stilling the mind must be an essential first step. When reading and writing, too, one must first calm the heart and gather one's thoughts to focus completely. If your thoughts are scattered and your mind is a monkey leaping and a horse galloping, you won't do anything well."

The red-clad woman smiled and turned to Hong Yi. "So this is your student. What do you think?"

For a moment, Hong Yi sensed an air of imperious command about Consort Yuan.

"Teaching beasts to understand reason is something only sages do. I may not be worthy, but I'll make an exception and play the sage this once." Hong Yi nodded.

"I certainly won't test you on archery or horsemanship. I'll ask you just one question." Consort Yuan asked without hesitation, "What is the greatest thing in the world?"

"As long as they can make a reasonable case, there's nothing to fear. What, do I count as a subject of the Great Gan Dynasty? This fox seems to have truly entered the mindset of a scholar, seeing herself as a citizen under the Great Gan Dynasty's rule. But she speaks with grace and sound reasoning. That deserves respect." Hong Yi thought to himself, and began to calm down.

Consort Yuan had blurted out the question, which clearly had been troubling her for a long time.

"How can you speak human language?" Hong Yi asked.

Around the bonfire stood many delicate little wooden stools, and a group of foxes sat on them like people, reading. In such a place, Hong Yi had no way to meet Daoists. Besides, ordinary Daoists all fawned on the powerful to refine elixirs and burn mercury. With his status as an insignificant son born to a concubine, no extraordinary person would seek him out.

"Miss, your name is Consort Yuan?" Hong Yi turned to the red-clad woman and bowed as well.

Ghost or fox, if they could reason clearly, they were nothing to fear. Remembering the tales of foxes and ghosts he had read, Hong Yi's mind steadied somewhat.

"Am I not just like Lord Ye, who loved dragons but feared the real thing? Calm down, calm down. If foxes and ghosts are really as described in the Caotang Notes, there's nothing to fear. Could this group of foxes want to study and have invited me to teach them? Foxes studying like humans—that's beyond belief..."

"Chirp, chirp..."

Hong Yi was startled again. He saw an old fox standing upright like a person, hind legs planted on the ground and forelegs clasped in a bow, lurching toward him.

Hong Yi's eyes widened as he watched the old fox. Its words were elegant, and it supported every point with facts and reason. It was more scholarly than a scholar—a truly refined fox.

Elder Tu looked as if he had a headache.

"Hahahaha!"

Hearing Hong Yi call him a man of broad-minded refinement, the old fox named Elder Tu happily flicked his whiskers up and down, so excited he seemed to have forgotten himself.

Hong Yi listened to these unfamiliar things and quietly turned them over in his mind, weighing them against the principles he had learned as a scholar.

"Sir, you truly are a man of broad-minded refinement." Hong Yi clasped his hands and returned a scholar's salute. Since the other party had greeted him with a scholar's courtesy, he could hardly neglect his own manners.

"What will you test me on, Miss Consort Yuan? Poetry, lyrics, songs, and rhapsodies? Classical interpretation and essays? Or policy arguments? If it's archery and horsemanship, I'm afraid I can't manage that." Hong Yi spoke solemnly.

Watching the fluffy little white foxes rolling around like snowballs, Hong Yi imagined trying to teach them to read and write, and an absurd feeling welled up inside him. Though he had read Li Yan's Caotang Notes, filled with tales of foxes and ghosts, of amorous fox women and gifted young scholars, and had once fantasized about meeting them himself, now that it had actually happened, a bone-deep chill suddenly rose within him.

"I've read plenty of miscellanies. The foxes in them all possess great powers, are versed in cultivation, and can transform in countless ways. Elder Tu, do you have those powers?" Looking at everything before him, Hong Yi felt these foxes were very different from the fox spirits in the books, so he couldn't help asking.

The old fox stood and walked so upright that Hong Yi had the strange impression that "this fox is like an old village schoolmaster."

"Mm? Elder Tu has a book collection?" Hong Yi was taken aback. He looked around and spotted a stone cave in the southern part of the secluded valley, its interior flickering with lamplight.

More importantly, Hong Yi knew his father, Marquis Wuwen, considered himself a great scholar of classical learning and despised Buddhism and Daoism. Once, when the court was at war with the Cloud Dream Empire, the emperor had summoned Daoists to inquire about omens. Marquis Wuwen had immediately remonstrated with him, then berated the Daoists in court: "A pack of charlatans who dabble in the supernatural think they can influence the state and seize power? It's sheer absurdity."

"Sir, your visit to our secluded valley today truly brings honor to this humble place. You're a scholar, so you must know that even beasts can yearn for the Dao and seek to understand reason. In ancient times, fierce tigers and lions listened to sages expound the classics. Consort Yuan invited you here today without the slightest ill intent. Besides, we of the Pure Fox Clan are not ordinary beasts, ignorant and without understanding. We know reason and understand human affairs. Scholars investigate things and comprehend principles; they should know that in ancient times, humans and beasts were no different. All ate raw meat and wore fur from head to toe. The people of antiquity were no different from apes. Only later did they gradually learn to walk upright, eat cooked food, and create written language, becoming human. We Pure Foxes have lived deep in the mountains for generations; we are no more than people beyond the reach of civilization, like those of ancient times. Your astonishment makes us feel we have treated you too abruptly."

"Young sir, will you agree to teach them?" Consort Yuan asked.

"Please come sit by the bonfire, sir." Elder Tu had noticed Hong Yi's slight build. The night breeze in the valley was cold, so he immediately invited him to warm himself by the fire.

"Elder Tu, Xiao Sang, Xiao Jiu, and Xiao Shu are still young and don't know better. The young sir is a gentleman, so he shouldn't blame them for their lack of manners."

"Miss Consort Yuan must be a fox immortal of profound cultivation, since she can take human form." Elder Tu spoke at length, his arguments clear and orderly.

"People have human speech, and beasts have beast speech. Mynah birds and parrots can speak like humans. Humans can learn the language of birds, too. Why shouldn't foxes learn human speech? A fox learning human speech is like the people of my Great Gan Dynasty learning the foreign languages of Yunmeng, Huoluo, and Yantu. It's simply a matter of pronunciation. What's so strange about that?" The old fox named Elder Tu answered, still methodical and precise.

"Hm?"

The voice was stiff and its tone strange, as though a fish bone were lodged in its throat. But its words were clear enough, and he could understand them.

"Of course we do. A prosperous age is one that treasures its classics. The Great Gan Dynasty is enjoying an unprecedented age of prosperity, and even ordinary wealthy households have libraries of hundreds or thousands of books. Naturally, we want to learn. Actually, we invited you here partly to teach these children, and partly to help us organize our books. Sort them into the categories of classics, histories, masters, and collected works, so that when the little ones grow up, they can read them more easily. Otherwise, everything's in a jumble, and it's a real headache."

"Hm. When one understands reason, the mind becomes clear and won't be swayed by ghosts, spirits, or monsters. What you know the truth about isn't frightening. Once you're no longer afraid, your mind steadies, and demons can't wreak havoc." Hong Yi nodded.

"I write a line or two now and then," Hong Yi said modestly. A cold breeze blew past, and he suddenly felt a little chilly.

"Cultivation is as vast as the stars in the sky. It can't be explained in a moment. This old man has a number of books on cultivation in his humble dwelling. I brought them out when the Great Zen Temple was destroyed. You can read through them. There are many things I still don't understand, and I'll need you to explain them to me."

"Among ten thousand foxes, not one can transform. Those who can are all extraordinary talents. We foxes are born no different from ordinary beasts, muddleheaded and unaware. Only a small number can understand human nature and follow people in learning to use fire and eat cooked food. Of that small number, only a very few can learn to read and understand reason. Only after understanding reason can they, through a chain of fortuitous circumstances, learn cultivation, and only after their Yin Spirits grow as powerful as those of Daoist Ghost Immortals can they transform. Our cultivation is entirely based on the methods used by human adepts of the Dao. Humans are the darlings of Heaven, with boundless wisdom and bodies full of endless mysteries. I once lived near the Great Zen Temple in Central Province for a time. I watched the monks cultivate and recite scriptures day and night, and learned a little about cultivation. For a fox to understand human nature, comprehend reason, and then cultivate requires many fortuitous circumstances. We're far behind humans in that respect. These little foxes have only a rudimentary spark of intelligence, so we invited you to teach them to read and write. They must understand reason before they can cultivate."

"Sir, can you write poetry?" Elder Tu asked in surprise, his emerald fox eyes brimming with delight, as if he had found a treasure.

"I wouldn't dare claim that," Hong Yi said modestly.

Consort Yuan smiled brightly. "Transformation is only an illusion, using thoughts to confuse the spirit of an ordinary person. It's like 'ghosts walking you in circles,' and can only fool commoners and fishermen who fear and respect ghosts and gods. It can't deceive a clear-minded scholar like you. I'm not a fox. I'm human."

"Cultivation methods are as varied as the stars in the sky, but they all aim to transcend life and death. Most fall into two broad categories. The first focuses on cultivating the spirit and is called immortal arts. The second refines the body and is called martial arts. The cultivation of immortal arts is really the cultivation of one's own thoughts. There are many methods, but they have just ten great realms: stilling the mind, emerging from the body, Night Roaming, Day Wanderer, Object Manipulation, Manifestation, possessing another's body, taking over another's body, tribulation by lightning, and Yang God. As for the realms of martial arts, I don't know them. Consort Yuan is a master of fist techniques, though, and can explain them to you." Elder Tu said.

"Oh? Scholars do not speak of strange forces and spirits. I've rarely looked into such things. But since I have the chance today, I'd like to ask about them." Hong Yi knew that Yujing Temple outside the city was the largest Daoist temple, full of Daoists who fawned on the powerful. Some even concocted elixirs in the imperial palace. Scholars held such people in contempt, believing they used stories of spirits and ghosts to deceive the common folk.

"The greatest thing in the world?" A hint of delight appeared on Consort Yuan's face. "What a wonderful answer: reason is greatest. Fortunately, I stopped by Qiuyue Temple today and heard you compose a poem. I knew you were no ordinary person. You've resolved a tremendous puzzle for me."

He had just heard Elder Tu call the woman in red Consort Yuan.

"Are you human or demon?" Hong Yi asked again, looking at the woman in red.

Hong Yi's only thought, seeing a group of white foxes sitting around a bonfire, holding books and reciting like people, was, "I've really encountered demons!"

"Don't concern yourself with all that. I'm your employer. I'm hiring you as a teacher, for ten taels of gold a month." The red-clad woman smiled mysteriously.

Another voice came from beside the bonfire.

Just then, the foxes gathered around the bonfire to read noticed the newcomer. Three young foxes cried out, dropped their books, stretched out their limbs, and scampered over, leaping around the red-clad woman in delight. They were clearly very familiar with her.

"Xiao Sang, Xiao Fei, Xiao Shu, don't make a fuss. We have a guest today. Mind your manners. Why are you still crawling around on all fours? You haven't shaken off your beastly habits. You'll make our guest laugh."